A Very Sirius Problem
by skorva
Summary: For the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenge by Marauder Asphodel. Harry goes back in time to try and stop his younger self from going into the Department of Mysteries. Meanwhile, he realizes that he really was annoying and stubborn when he was younger.


_**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter. God - could it be any more obvious that I didn't come up with it?_

_**AN: **Done for the Harry Potter and the Fanfiction Challenge, by **Marauder Asphodel. **Hope you like it, just a short story that's 5000k words+. The prizes for the challenge are Pottermore accounts, and since mine hasn't gotten it's welcome e-mail yet, I want to give this a chance. You never know._

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><p>Harry sighed as he reached down to pick up his old Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook. It was almost 20 years since he had defeated Voldemort. And to think of how many people that horrible Tom Riddle had killed...Fred...Tonks...Lupin...Dobby...Snape...his parents...Cedric...Sirius...and so many more. Countless. If he could only go back in time...to just save one person. How would that change his life now? It would change everything. Harry knew that George couldn't produce a patronus since Fred had died...every happy memory he had was with his dead brother. And Teddy's parents...Tonks and Lupin - who fought valiantly for Hogwarts...for <em>Harry<em>. And Dobby...whom Harry had once told back in his second year never to save his life again...died to save him. Snape - who died like a Gryffindor, though making Harry hate him for all of those years, loved his mother, Lily more than life itself. His parents, who gave him life, his mother who died for him thus protecting him with an invisible shield that would last forever. Cedric - an innocent. A fellow student who strived to fight...and _live_. But most of all Harry felt sorry for Sirius. His godfather who died protecting _him, _along with all the others who had died. Sirius was Harry's only family member who had been living. The closest thing, he had ever had for a father. And he did his best, he did. Sirius was brave, loyal, even though he was a Black. And to be killed by his own _cousin_ - Bellatrix Lestrange, the deranged woman who had tortured Neville's parents into delirium. Oh if only he could save one...just one person.

The resurrection stone wouldn't work...no that would be only too painful. Harry thought harder...the time-turners at the Ministry were gone, destroyed. But maybe there was something Dumbledore had in his office...something that was hidden.

Harry thought about his wife, Ginny, and their beautiful children...so full of life and desire. Lily Luna...Albus Severus, and James _Sirius_. Who was James named after? His father, James Potter...and his best friend, the one who suffered in Azkaban for all of those years. Sirius Black.

Harry knew what was to be done. He grabbed his cloak, the Invisibility Cloak, the best of the Deathly Hallows. The one who saved Harry from death all of those years at Hogwarts. The most loyal of the three, the invisibility cloak had been there for him whenever he needed it. Next, he grabbed his wand. Holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather core. The same core as it's brother, the wand of Voldemort, Tom Riddle. The one who had killed all of the people that he had been thinking of only moments ago. And then, The trusty bag that Hermione had used during their search for the Hallows. A bottomless pit that could hold anything and everything.

Harry then went to retrieve his broom. The _Firebolt_...The broom that Sirius had given him so long ago. Yes, Harry would travel by his _Firebolt_, the last thing that Sirius had given him before his death, to particularly _save _Sirius from his death.

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><p>"Professor McGonagall!" Harry said as he stepped through the gates of Hogwarts.<p>

"Harry! Oh Harry...I haven't seen you in ages. You're so handsome. Did you ever become an auror? Oh what am I saying, of course you have! And you're sons...they're brilliant - I just know Lily will be as smart as her mother when she comes to Hogwarts next year," McGonagall rambled as she wore a shocked expression at seeing Harry Potter. She hadn't seen the boy...er, man in years and was ecstatic.

"Look- I'm sorry, Professor, but...but I need something. Something that Dumbledore forgot to give me,"

"Oh of course, Harry...you've just got me rambling, you! Let me take you up to my office , or...Headmaster Dumbledore's old office..." Minerva said as she led Harry towards the headmaster's office.

It still looked the same as before, only slightly different. Minerva McGonagall had added her own specialty touches as well as kept Dumbledore's and previous Headmaster's artifacts in place. The portraits hung as their residents moved, talked, or slept. But at the sight of Harry, all went wild.

"Harry! It's Harry Potter!" A woman yelled as Harry waved back.

He even noticed old Phineas Nigellus. "Ah - Harry, m'boy! Come back to Hogwarts I see? For what reason, may I ask? Teaching perhaps?"

"Umm...No, Sir...Unfortunately not. I have actually come to speak with Professor Dumbledore," Harry explained as Dumbledore shifted in his seat.

"Harry. Now what is it that you ask of me?" He asked with his twinkling eyes.

"I...I heard that you may have...another _time-turner_. Sir...I need it."

"And why is that, Harry?"

"Because...I need to set things right. I need to go back in time - back to my fifth year, Sir. It's very important."

"Harry...Harry, you know that you can't twist fate. Eventually it will only deteriorate your body into nothingness. Leave things the way they are...You have a family. Children. What more do you need?"

"Sirius...He was never supposed to die...It wasn't meant to be."

"But Harry...do you not understand? Were any of the other people supposed to die? Those valiant witches and wizards did not die for you and you only, Harry, but for Hogwarts...for _their _families to live in peace. Peace is what people desire, do they not?"

"I...I know it may seem selfish. But it's important."

"Do you want to relive your teenage years, Harry? For if so, I can help you - but it is your decision, and yours only. Remember this, boy: You cannot expect to just snap your fingers and bring your dead uncle back."

"But I can kill her. Bellatrix Lestrange! She'll be gone. Don't you understand sir?"

"Harry. If I understood all of this, I'd go back myself and rid the world of Tom Riddle. But you see, life and death are two very different things. You can only do so much in this world. But as you wish...I shall retrieve the time-turner for you, as you requested." Dumbledore said as he vanished from the portrait and appeared in another with a golden time-turner similar to the one Harry and Hermione had used in their third year, again, to save Sirius Black.

Instantly, the time-turner magically appeared in Harry's pocket, as the Philosopher's stone did in his first year. Dumbledore only winked at Harry as he disappeared into one of his other portraits. Harry sighed as he gave a look to Professor, or now, Headmaster McGonagall.

"Good luck Harry. Please be careful."

"I will Professor," Harry said as he turned the time turner as much as he needed to go back into his fifth year at Hogwarts. Now that he knew that Voldemort had been planning this, Sirius was not going to die. Not on Harry's watch.

Hogwarts - 1995.

Harry appeared in the same place he had been standing - in Dumbledore's office. Only the office was different, it looked like Umbridge had bombarded it with kittens and pink and doilies, all of that crap.

Uh oh, he thought. This was _Umbridge's _room. Harry rushed out as soon as he could, running down the staircases, and out into the main foyer. He knew that the 1995 Harry was sound asleep - and he had to go and make sure that young Harry did not go to the Department of Mysteries. At. All.

This was crucial in the plan.

Harry whipped around a corner to not let 15 year old Harry see him. He couldn't be seen...not by anyone. Wait - didn't he bring his invisibility cloak with him? Harry got out the trusty cloak and draped it around him. He was safe. It looked like young Harry, Hermione, and Ron were going to Umbridge's office - just the one Harry had just got out of. Aha! - he remembered that Umbridge's office was the only one with a fireplace that wasn't being monitored. But no - he had to stop them! If 15 year old Harry fell for Voldemort's legilimency skills, then Sirius would surely be dead.

He ran down to his younger self and grabbed that back of his robes. "Hey! Hermione! something's got me!" Younger Harry yelled as older Harry struggled to hold on. He could _not _let his younger self get put in danger!

Hermione tugged on Harry - and with that, they were off again. Older Harry then took out his wand. "Petrificus Totalus." He whispered in their direction as younger Harry grew rigid and stiff - he fell to the floor as Hermione and Ron ran over to help him.

"Who's doing this to you?" She asked. "Finite." She said as the curse left younger Harry's body.

"Damn it, Hermione." Older Harry swore as he ran over behind them.

What to do, what to do? Could he afford to be seen by the younger trio? His younger self? For the sake of Sirius - he had to try.

He stepped in front of his younger self as younger Harry rebounded off of Older Harry and fell to the floor. "Someone's there!" He told his friends. Older Harry rolled his eyes as he whipped off the cloak.

Ron nearly fainted. Hermione was in so much shock that Older Harry only rolled his eyes again. Younger Harry's eyes grew almost as wide as his mouth as he said, "You're...dad?"

"No idiot," Older Harry said. "You're me. I'm you. I'm you in the future, actually."

The two Harries and Hermione heard a thump as Ron fell to the floor in faint. "W- Why are you here?" Younger Harry stuttered.

"Because I have come to tell you something important. Something valuable that will save Sirius."

"W- W- What?" Younger Harry asked.

"Don't go."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "That's the whole reason we're going Mr...Mr, Harry!" She corrected herself as Older Harry chuckled. Oh, Hermione, awkward, awkward Hermione.

"You don't get it, do you?" Harry sighed. "Some of you may get hurt - no, I _know _some of you will get hurt. And Sirius, Sirius isn't in danger at all. Voldemort doesn't even have him. But he _will _get killed. He certainly will if _you _go. That's why I've gone back in time - to tell you not to."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Yes it does...Young Harry. Listen. Tom doesn't even have Sirius right now. If _you _go - he'll come looking for you. So will Remus, Tonks, and the other aurors. You're just going to put them in danger...for nothing. The prophesy will break, Lucius Malfoy will not retrieve it."

"You can't stop me from going! I don't even know who you are!" Younger Harry yelled, his idiocy made Older Harry annoyed and yet proud at the same time. _Why couldn't I have just listened more often? _- he asked himself.

"I'm you! Now listen Harry - Merlin, just listen for once!"

"Well I'm not - and it doesn't matter if you are me and I am you or if you are just an impostor like I think you are!"

Harry sighed. His younger self was so immature and annoying - no wonder Malfoy hated him so much as a child. Wait - he thought, does this count as self-hate? It was rather stupid, in fact, that he, himself did not listen to himself. _If that even made any sense_, Harry thought.

"_Sirius, I'll miss you," Harry stood in front of his godfather._

"_You're more like your father then you know, Harry," Sirius stepped back and a green_

_light hit him._

_He fell behind the veil. Someone held Harry back, "Harry it's done. You cant save him."_

"_No, he cant be! Sirius," Harry yelled and Lupin struggled to hold him back. "Sirius! Sirius come back!"_

Harry remembered the past (or now future) memories as he snapped back to reality. No...

"You listen to me...Mini-me! Younger Harry! Prongslet! Whatever I call you. Now let me prove to you that I am Harry James Potter. My mother was Lily Evans, who died to save me-"

"That doesn't mean anything! Everyone who knows my legacy knows that!" Younger Harry spat back.

"Shut up and let me continue. God was I ever annoying." Harry sighed as he continued the story. "My father was James Potter, who was Prongs, one of the Marauders. His best friend was Sirius Black, the Grim - they called him. My parents died when I was a baby - Voldemort killed them. And then I was forced to live with the Dursleys, because my mother's love had the same strength as my aunt, Petunia's, even though she hated me. And so I lived that way, until you, or me now. In my first year, Voldemort came to kill me with the aid of Quirell, whom I mistakenly killed with my own hands, the love that was an unbreakable bond. I saved Hermione with my best friend, Ron, from a mountain troll. In my second year, I found the chamber of secrets that Ginny was captured in by the memory of Tom Riddle. He did so with the diary, and he petrified many muggle borns - including Hermione. In Tom's school years, he tried to blame Hagrid, and successfully framed him for the death of Myrtle Jones, by the Acromantula. It turned out to actually be Tom's basilisk. In my third year...I met Sirius. I thought he was a criminal, that he had betrayed my parents...it had turned out to only be Peter Pettigrew - Ron's rat. Hermione and I saved Buckbeak, and we had used a time-turner to do it. Just like I am now."

"But...but how does that prove anything? You could've just used legilimency on me!"

"Oh stop it, Young Potter! Do you need more proof - fine! On the night when you, uh...me, uhm..us, won the Triwizard Tournament - Voldemort needed your...my blood. He told Peter Pettigrew to "kill the spare". Cedric was dead."

Younger Harry held an expression that looked like he wanted to believe his older self, but just couldn't. Why? well even Older Harry didn't know that one.

There was nothing he could say. "If you don't believe me then...go to him." Harry told his younger self.

He thought about what Dumbledore had said. And Harry knew it himself. He had lived almost 22 years without Sirius. Why bring him back now? Because he knew it himself - he was selfish. He didn't even pause for a second to think about if Sirius was actually happy on the other side. Living with his fellow Marauders up above. That he had boarded the train in King's Cross - when Harry had temporarily died.

He couldn't change anything. Yes, he thought..._Sirius is in a better place. I'll let it stay that way. Although this has all been amusing, meeting my younger idiotic self and all that, I prefer life in 2016. Ginny needs me. So do the kids. But maybe I've learned something. Yeah, I did. Now I know why the bloody hell Draco hated me all of those years! Aside from being a prat - I guess he was right in his own ways. First he was jealous, but then again, I really was full of myself. Not to mention that young me is slightly annoying to his elders...um, elder Older Harry. _

Harry turned the time-turner in the opposite direction to bring himself home.

"Yeah. I'm not going home. Not really, anyways."

Hogwarts - 2016.

Harry threw the time-turner on the ground. He didn't even bother to say a word to McGonagall, he just gave her a quick side-hug and wave before leaving. He only cared about his family - and how he needed to take better care of himself. He hopped on the _Firebolt _and flew across London, to Godric's Hollow...where he had lived now with his wonderful family. He burst through the door as he picked up Ginny and twirled her around, yes, nothing was better than this. He bombarded his children with hugs and kisses, never ceasing to show his love and affection.

"Harry...where have you been! You're three hours late for dinner - had me worried sick!" Ginny scolded him.

Harry only smiled. "Sorry hun. I just had some...business to take care of."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, that's my husband. Always having to save the world from evil. Come on kids, get ready for bed." She told her three little ones, who ran upstairs as they listened to their mother.

"Well, what's new this time, Harry?" Ginny asked him.

"Oh nothing...Just some time-travel case."

"Time travel, huh? Weird." Ginny said as she kissed Harry on the cheek and went upstairs to go to bed. Harry lingered in his living room for naught but a few seconds more.

Harry realized that there was nothing more that he wanted than his family. And that Sirius...well Sirius was alive. In his heart.

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><p><strong><em>AN: <em>**_Yes, and Sirius is alive in all of our hearts. Sorry if it wasn't long enough, I know the challenge is supposed to be 5k + , but I only had time to make this 3k + and the fact that it's due tomorrow doesn't help at all. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed it - no matter if it makes it into the challenge or not. Please favourite/alert me and check out my other stories. Flames are accepted but nice reviews are always welcomed! Thanks guys.__  
>-Ashley Everdeen-Malfoy. <em>


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